Although Charles Gounod is today better known for his operas, his contemporary Camille Saint-Saëns contended that "In the faint distant future when inexorable time has completed its work and the operas of Gounod are forever in repose in the dusty sanctuary of libraries, the Messe de Sainte Cécile, the Rédemption and the oratorio Mors et Vita will still retain life. They will show coming generations what a splendid musician lent luster and renown to France in the nineteenth century."

While Saint-Saëns' analysis fell short of the mark, it was understandable that he should have written what he did. Gounod's works for the church far outnumber his 13 operas and continued to occupy his attention long after his last stage work had been premiered. Indeed, given his earliest predilections (he undertook a course in theology at Saint-Sulpice and referred to himself for a time as Abbé Gounod), he might easily have confined himself to the composition of sacred works.

Gounod approached the writing of his Messe Sainte Cécile with the same reverence that had informed his creative life from the beginning. Even other composers recognized that this was no mere posturing; after winning the Grand Prix de Rome in 1839, Gounod spent much time at the Sistine Chapel studying the works of the sixteenth century masters. During the summer of 1855, while at work on the Sainte Cécile Mass, he wrote to his mother, "During the afternoons I usually go to the woods and read selections from my beloved Sainte Augustin. I have translated them; that is my time of reflection. Following that, I contemplate my mass."

Gounod took some liberties with the liturgical text of the mass. In the Agnus Dei he changed the words slightly and added the "Domine Salvum," which is heard three times at the conclusion. Following the composer's lifetime, the reference to the Emperor Napoleon III was changed to "Domine salva fac Republicam" (Lord, deliver thy people). Throughout, one hears the composer's quintessentially French discernment added to his great respect for the major sacred composers of the past.

The premiere took place at the church of Saint-Eustache on November 22, 1855, and led Saint-Saëns to comment that "The appearance of the Messe Saint-Cécile caused a kind of shock. This simplicity, this grandeur, this serene light which rose before the musical world like a breaking dawn, troubled people enormously." He concluded by saying, "at first one was dazzled, then charmed, then conquered."

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